Class 4 Autumn Term Newsletter

Dear Parents

Welcome back, I hope you have all had lovely summers and are ready for the new term!

We have a busy term ahead. outlined below are the curriculum areas to be covered as well as ways you can help to support your child’s learning in Year 4.

Thank you.

English

As usual we will be studying a variety of text types to help develop your child’s writing skills. We have started the year looking at the text “The Lost Thing” as well as the animated film to create some information texts as well as a short story. We will also be writing non-chronological reports centred around the book “The Matchbox Diary” by Paul Fleischman. There will also be a unit based around ‘Winter’s Child’ by Angela McAllister & Grahame Baker where we will be writing our own narrative sequels. We will also be creating our own poems based on the poem “Night Mail” by W.H Auden which was inspired by the 1936 British documentary film.

Grammar includes punctuating speech; conjunctions for time and cause; using grammatical terminology using fronted adverbials appropriately, using conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions to express time, place and cause, using descriptive features to expand noun phrases, using the present form of verbs in contrast to the past tense, using adverbs to express time and cause and revising word classes.

Listening to your child read continues to be very important, as does discussing their understanding of the texts they are reading. There will be daily classroom time for reading, handwriting, grammar and spelling activities.  Children must bring their reading records and books to class every day.

Maths

This term we will be building on knowledge of place value of 3- and 4-digit numbers including partitioning, rounding, ordering, and comparing. We will then be moving on to addition and subtraction including written method with exchanges. We will begin using strategies to check our answers. We will learn about area and perimeter and units of measure for length before moving onto multiplication and division by 10 and 100. In the weeks leading up to Christmas we will be focusing on the 6, 7, and 9 times tables. It would therefore be very beneficial to learn and consolidate the 2, 5, 10, 3, 4, and 8 times tables in the first half of this term and the weeks leading up to this.

At home it would be helpful if you practiced telling the time both analogue and digital and continued practicing times tables and related division facts using Times Table Rockstar (5-10 minutes as often as possible). This will also help to prepare children for the times tables test in the spring term.

Science

For the first half term we are studying electricity including learning about conductors and insulators, creating circuits and electrical safety. We will then learn about digestion, food chains, predators, and prey.

Topic- Victorians (History/Geography)

We will explore the life of Queen Victoria as well as which famous inventions originated in the Victorian era and how they changed people’s lives at the time. We will find out what the Industrial Revolution was and how Victorian Britain was changed by it, and how the introduction of the railways changed travel and trade. We will explore what life was like for Victorian working children and why Lord Shaftesbury was an important figure including how rules about who could go to school changed. We will use historical sources to make observations about Victorian clothing comparing clothes for rich and poor people from Victorian times before finding out about typical crimes and punishments in the Victorian period comparing Victorian punishments to the modern-day justice system

French

We will begin learning about food in a topic entitled le café where we will learn to order food in a café. We will also begin to learn vocabulary for animals and talk about the pets we own as well as basic vocabulary, phrases and numbers.

Computing

In computing we will be developing a simple educational game in the first half of the term, while in the second half we will be learning about coding.

Art and DT

In art the children will be focusing on William Morris where we will be printing patterns and Marriane North where we will be looking at flowers observational detail.

RE

This year, we will be following a new RE scheme which centres around three areas: Theology, Philosophy and Human and Social Sciences with each lesson starting with an enquiry question. We will be learning about a range of religions including Christianity, Sikhism and Hinduism.

PSHE 

We will be focused on wellbeing mindfulness whilst also learning about families and forming healthy relationships.

Music

This term we are fortunate enough to have music lessons through the ‘Charanga’ scheme provided by Essex music services. Mr Malam will be coming to school to teach the children brass every Thursday.

PE

Children will need to bring in their PE kits to school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for this term. On Tuesdays they will take part in Fitness. On Wednesdays they will take part in football with Mr Snelling. After half term we will be taking part in gymnastics and basketball. Please make sure they are in full school PE kit and when the weather turns-wear plenty of layers.

Homework

It is greatly beneficial to your child’s learning for you to hear them read whenever possible, please make a note/initial in their orange reading journals when you hear them read. When children finish a book, they must complete a reading challenge in their journal (from the list in the front cover) about the book they have just finished.

Along with listening to your child read, the children will be set spellings to learn each week. Six sets of spellings will be issued for the half term and tests will take place every Friday; please assist them with look, cover, write, check activities to consolidate their learning or an alternative method that suits your child’s way of learning.

Maths, English, Science or Topic homework will be set on Fridays for return the following Wednesday. Tasks are set in order to support and consolidate the learning taking place in class.  Please support your child to ensure that they understand what has been asked of them and to make sure that their work is clearly and neatly completed but allow them to complete the work as independently as possible. If there is ever any confusion, or your child is having trouble with the homework, please let me know (preferably before Wednesday) so I am able to help them.

Water/Snacks

Children are actively encouraged to bring in water, and a snack for break time each day. It is often a long time between breakfast and lunch and a snack is important to keep us all going. We ask that these are healthy, in line with our Healthy Schools ethos (fruit or vegetables only).

If you have any particular questions or concerns, please feel free to speak to me at the end of the day or contact the office to arrange an appointment/call before or after school.

Best wishes

Miss Ullmann